Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cancer cells that have shed from a primary tumor and circulate in the bloodstream. These cells are of vital interest to the treatment of cancer because they can result in the spread of cancer which would otherwise be localized to a single region of the body. More specifically, CTCs can become embedded in a region of the body and grow one or more secondary tumors away from region the primary tumor. The effective treatment of cancer and patient prognosis depends heavily on clinicians' ability to detect and treat CTCs. However, CTCs are difficult to detect due because they are greatly outnumbered by blood cells in an individual's blood stream.
Although several conventional systems for CTC detection exist, these systems are typically inefficient because they require a user to manually perform many, if not all, of the steps involved in the detection process. Consequently, conventional systems do not provide for quick data processing or high throughput rates. Thus, it is desired to design an automated CTC detection system which addresses these and other deficiencies found in the conventional CTC detection systems.